Anyway, so Bullfrog's birthday was right before Thanksgiving. We had a great day, even though he had school and Peanut didn't ... and dad had work ... It was a great day (for him). *laugh* We started the day by going to Save-A-Lot and grabbing Oatmeal Creme Cookies and then I drove him onto school. I was able to leave the younger two with Peanut for the short period. He loved being able to pass out the cookies and then rode the bus home because he didn't want to take the chance of walking home with a box of cookies (couldn't blame him).
However, the major downside of the day was when it came to me going to get food in the afternoon and Monkey not getting picked up at the bus stop ... then having to wait for the second bus to come after it dropped all the other students off and then transferred poor Monkey to another bus ...
We missed the ability for me to make Bullfrog's cake. However, I took him to the store and let him pick out a cake and the cake decorating artist there wrote, "Happy Birthday, Black Wolf," in black writing and it made his entire night.
He just had NO idea that we had more in store for him. He was SUPREMELY bummed when he discovered that I had not purchased the Gogurt like I promised. I let him believe that I had just forgotten it, but as soon as dad got home, we'd go get it. He was fine with that, yet confused that it took all of us to go buy one simple item. *laugh*
When we pulled into the lot of IHOP, he was SO excited. He wanted to go to IHOP so bad for his birthday, but believed that we didn't have it in the budget to go. I love the fact he has NO idea what our budget truly looks like. Since there really is a huge difference between something not being affordable and something not being planned for well in advance.
He let the waitress know it was his birthday ... course, him being so excited about the entire evening didn't hurt. She doted on him and gave him extra pancakes ... then had the crew sing to him and they gave him a HUGE cup of ice cream (which he ended up having to give most to the girls since he was full). Yup, that waitress was tipped very well. Hubby and I were extremely stressed with a poor Turtle who was still not regular and attempting to potty train and then a LOT of sugary foods. The waitress made the entire night bearable. I cannot thank her enough. There is a reason that we will always chose IHOP for our locations to have family dinners.
Then, of course, there is no birthday without the actual singing by the family and blowing out the candles. Of course, everyone only had a very small piece of the cake because we were all too full.
He was excited to hear from almost everyone important to him. We did have a couple meltdowns when he didn't hear from one person, but we had to teach him the valuable lesson of not taking his anger out on those who did not cause the problem. Thankfully, he was able to see his case manager and therapist about it the week after and get a chance to work through the emotions and heartache he was struggling with. Such a tough lesson for a child.
Flash forward a week ... it is now Turtle's turn for a birthday. I am not sure who was happier for it ... Turtle, or Monkey. I swear when it comes to birthdays, Monkey transforms into Pinkie Pie. Turtle wasn't really into the whole birthday thing ... until the words, "cake," and "pizza," were mentioned. Then she was ALL about it.
First, we had to make the cake. She monitored my every step and made sure I was doing it correctly. Then Grandma Mo came over and gave her presents (as well as Bullfrog since it decided to just ice all Thanksgiving long - blog post coming). She got a toy horse from her great aunt and Paw Patrol from grandma and grandpa. G.G. sent her $10 so she gets to go shopping as soon as Christmas passes (rules are rules).
Much of the next hour was spent with the little girls playing with the horse and Rocky, but when the pizza delivery man came ... it was game on. I got the pizza and by the time I reached the top of the stairs, she grabbed my leg and led me to the kitchen. I got her a personal pan pizza of her very own, and then got the other kidlets a couple pizzas to share. HUGE success.
The cake on the other hand ... well ... it led me down a frustrating path. I went to make the frosting and discovered we had absolutely NO powdered sugar in the house. I turned to the trusted Internet and Googled. Thankfully, I found a couple recipes for cream cheese frosting that didn't require powdered sugar. They did require a little more work, but it was worth it. I created a water bath and melted some dark chocolate chips from Caribou Coffee, along with some brown sugar and a touch of water (next time I'm using cream). Let it cool slightly while I beat together a package of cream cheese and a stick of butter. Mixed the two together and beat it until it was fluffy. It is not a decorating frosting, but man alive was it super spreadable and tasty!
I topped the cake with a layer of green fondant and a paw cut from blue fondant. Stuck candles in it and called it good. While it wasn't pretty ... it sure does taste good. The kids devoured it, which makes it a complete win in my books!
So ... we have another two birthdays down ... three to go. The next three though are HUGE birthdays. Have a child turning 13, one turning 18, and then Monkey is turning 5 ... which wouldn't be such a big birthday, except it means KINDERGARTEN for her next year. Stop the clock!!
*note - some links in here are affiliate links ... this means if you do click on them and choose to purchase something, I will earn a few pennies ... which would be nice after it accumulates*
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